After purchasing the Spirit Seeds, Li Zhirui headed towards his family's store. He looked from outside and noticed that business was quite good, as there were cultivators in the store at all times.
Seeing that his two elders were busy attending to customers, Li Zhirui decided not to disturb them and quietly left.
What Li Zhirui didn't expect was that upon his return to Da Rong Island, a pleasant surprise was waiting for him.
Previously, Li Shiqing had promised Li Zhirui the Water Method Pill Recipe, and he had already sent someone to the Marketplace to purchase it. Moreover, he bought five pill recipes at once, along with the corresponding fifty batches of Spiritual Medicine.
"Thank you, Grandfather Clan Leader!" Li Zhirui said with a happy face.
Li Shiqing shook his head and said, "This is what you deserve."
"I hope that after you learn it, you'll record your insights and then submit them to the Scripture Pavilion," Li Shiqing continued after seeing that Li Zhirui's expression remained unchanged, "In the future, half of the Contribution Value paid by our clan members for each reading will be given to you."
"Alright, once I've learned it, I'll send my insights to the Scripture Pavilion," Li Zhirui agreed readily.
Although he had made contributions, it wasn't without reward, and besides, as a member of the family, Li Zhirui would also benefit more as the family became wealthier and stronger. Moreover, the Water Refinement Method was not easy to master.
"Hmm, then you can go back now."
Li Zhirui bowed and then turned and left.
Back at his small courtyard, Li Zhirui did not rush to look at the pill recipes. Instead, he entered his space, preparing to plant the Spirit Seeds he'd acquired and also to use Spirit Stones to force-grow those fourteen types of second-tier Spiritual Medicine.
Li Zhirui chose the Gold-edged Flower with the shortest maturity time. As each Spirit Stone was buried into the ground, the Gold-edged Flower rapidly sprouted from the Spirit Seed, grew up, produced buds, and finally bloomed completely!
A tier-two Spiritual Medicine plant, from Spirit Seed to maturity, took only a brief quarter of an hour, but this was achieved at the cost of more than one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones.
"A Gold-edged Flower is worth one hundred and forty Spirit Stones on the market, and forcibly growing it like this, I'm still losing a dozen or so Spirit Stones," muttered Li Zhirui.
He had previously forced the growth of tier-one Spiritual Medicine and knew that cultivating tier-two Spiritual Medicine would definitely result in a loss of some Spirit Stones, but he hadn't expected it to be as much as a dozen or so.
"Ah, I'll just grow them slowly." After all, he was not in a hurry now, nor did he need second-tier Spiritual Medicine immediately. It was enough to force-grow one plant of each kind and expand the scale gradually.
Li Zhirui carefully harvested a dozen Spirit Seeds from the heart of the Gold-edged Flower. After sealing the Gold-edged Flower in a Jade Box, he planted the Spirit Seeds in the nearby area.
Subsequently, Li Zhirui did the same with the other second-tier Spirit Seeds, and in less than half a day, he had spent two to three thousand Spirit Stones!
Li Zhirui was pained by the cost, but for the sake of future alchemy, he could only console himself that his current investments were for a better future.
After stimulating the growth of all the second-tier Spirit Seeds, he casually planted the previously missing first-tier Spirit Seeds as well and then, walking around, came to the Spirit Fields by the Spirit Lake.
"Huh?"
Li Zhirui had a sharp eye and immediately spotted a freshly-sprouted bud on the opposite side of the Spirit Lake, outside the field ridge, "Is it a Spirit Seed I accidentally dropped here?"
Since Da Qing often played and rested by the Spirit Lake, Li Zhirui had not planted any Spiritual Objects within a zhang of the Spirit Lake, so this solitary Spiritual Medicine plant could only be there for that reason.
Li Zhirui originally wanted to pull it out, given that it was just a tier-one Spiritual Medicine. In the end, he gave up on the idea; after all, it had already sprouted and was close to the Spirit Field, not bothering Da Qing at all.
After handling the various chores in his space, several hours had passed.
It was then that Li Zhirui took out those five pill recipes, ready to carefully choose which one he would learn next.
"The Qinghe Pill, after taking, one must meditate and gather Qi. The required Spiritual Medicine: Clear Dew Fruit, Mist Leaf..." This is a type of Spirit Pill that aids in cultivation, capable of speeding up the absorption of Spiritual Energy.
However, the Qinghe Pill is sought after by cultivators not because it aids in cultivation, but because it helps in meditation.
"Blood Pill, Nourishing Spirit Pill..." The other four kinds of Spirit Pills each have their unique characteristic, showing that the Li family had put a lot of thought into selecting them; otherwise, they couldn't possibly cover so many areas.
Including the two Pill Recipes Li Zhirui had purchased, the Li family had then covered every aspect such as increasing Mana, assisting cultivation, healing, replenishing Mana, and more.
Except for one extremely special kind of pill, the Barrier-Breaking Pill!
The Barrier-Breaking Pill does not refer to a single type of Spirit Pill, but rather a category of Spirit Pills, such as the well-known Foundation Establishment Pill, which belongs to the category of Barrier-Breaking Pills. There are even higher level Barrier-Breaking Pills, such as the Gold Core Formation Pill and the Nascent Soul Pill.
From this, one can see that Barrier-Breaking Pills are extremely precious Spirit Pills, whose Pill Recipes are simply not seen in the outside world. It's normal that the Li family doesn't have them.
Li Zhirui selected the Qinghe Pill Recipe from the five Pill Recipes, deciding to start learning this method first. Once he became proficient, he would consider the remaining Pill Recipes.
But while examining the Pill Recipe, Li Zhirui encountered a dilemma; refining the Qinghe Pill required one more spell than the Jade Spirit Pill and the Spirit-Replenishing Pill.
"Nurturing Pill Skill?" Li Zhirui frowned deeply. He had never heard of this spell, and while its literal meaning was easy to grasp, he had no idea how to practically apply it.
Li Zhirui safely put away the Pill Recipe and got up, heading towards the Alchemy Room. He wanted to ask Li Shihe if he knew about the method.
"I have heard of this method. It is said that Spirit Pills refined using this method have one or two points higher efficacy than ordinary Spirit Pills. However, you also know the past situation of our family; we simply couldn't gather such precious Methods," Li Shihe said at last, his face full of helplessness and regret.
"This..." After getting an answer from Li Shihe, Li Zhirui frowned. He hadn't expected the Nurturing Pill Skill to have such benefits, but at the same time, he also realized the preciousness of the method. Not to mention how expensive it could be, it was still a question if it was even for sale in the marketplace.
"You're thinking about refining the Qinghe Pill, aren't you?" As the Pill-refining Elder of the family, Li Shihe knew Li Zhirui's thoughts as soon as he heard them, but all he could do was advise, "You should try refining the other Spirit Pills first."
"Yes, I know." What else could Li Zhirui do but agree? He didn't yet possess the ability to deduce a Pill Recipe on his own.
This situation couldn't be blamed on the clan members who bought the Pill Recipes. After all, when purchasing, it was not possible to see the entire content of the Pill Recipe. If someone slightly meddled and hid this matter, from where would you know it?
After returning to his courtyard, Li Zhirui seriously examined the other four Pill Recipes and was relieved not to encounter a similar issue.
"I'll start with the Blood Pill." Like the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, this pill was also very popular and easy to sell.
Perhaps because he had experience in refining Jade Spirit Pills and Spirit-Replenishing Pills, it only took Li Zhirui a few days to fully understand the Blood Pill Recipe and memorize all the processes.
On the early morning of the fifth day, Li Zhirui got up early, cleared his mind of various distractions, and started cleaning the Alchemy Furnace, then filled it with Spirit Water.
"Blood Deer Antler, White Ginseng..."
He took out the five types of Spiritual Medicine needed to refine the Blood Pill, began to extract their essence, and then injected it into the Spirit Water. His fingers flew, casting the Alchemy spells one by one, and the originally distinct essences began to merge with one another.
Li Zhirui maintained a calm demeanor, perfectly timing each step, carefully completing them all.
Half an hour later, a fragrance of pills wafted from the Alchemy Furnace. Li Zhirui's expression remained unchanged as he slowly withdrew the spells, then reached out to collect the Spirit Pills.
"Five pills completed!" A bright smile appeared on Li Zhirui's face; not only had he succeeded in refining the Blood Pill on his first attempt, but the yield was also considerable!
However, Li Zhirui was also aware that his success was due not only to his months of refining hundreds to thousands of pills, but also to the relatively low difficulty of the Blood Pill.